180 research outputs found
A Tree-structure Convolutional Neural Network for Temporal Features Exaction on Sensor-based Multi-resident Activity Recognition
With the propagation of sensor devices applied in smart home, activity
recognition has ignited huge interest and most existing works assume that there
is only one habitant. While in reality, there are generally multiple residents
at home, which brings greater challenge to recognize activities. In addition,
many conventional approaches rely on manual time series data segmentation
ignoring the inherent characteristics of events and their heuristic
hand-crafted feature generation algorithms are difficult to exploit distinctive
features to accurately classify different activities. To address these issues,
we propose an end-to-end Tree-Structure Convolutional neural network based
framework for Multi-Resident Activity Recognition (TSC-MRAR). First, we treat
each sample as an event and obtain the current event embedding through the
previous sensor readings in the sliding window without splitting the time
series data. Then, in order to automatically generate the temporal features, a
tree-structure network is designed to derive the temporal dependence of nearby
readings. The extracted features are fed into the fully connected layer, which
can jointly learn the residents labels and the activity labels simultaneously.
Finally, experiments on CASAS datasets demonstrate the high performance in
multi-resident activity recognition of our model compared to state-of-the-art
techniques.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Acoustic assessment of erygmophonic speech of Moroccan laryngectomized patients
Introduction: Acoustic evaluation of alaryngeal voices is among the most prominent issues in speech analysis field. In fact, many methods have been developed to date to substitute the classic perceptual evaluation. The Aim of this study is to present our experience in erygmophonic speech objective assessment and to discuss the most widely used methods of acoustic speech appraisal. through a prospective case-control study we have measured acoustic parameters of speech quality during one year of erygmophonic rehabilitation therapy of Moroccan laryngectomized patients. Methods: We have assessed acoustic parameters of erygmophonic speech samples of eleven laryngectomized patients through the speech rehabilitation therapy. Acoustic parameters were obtained by perturbation analysis method and linear predictive coding algorithms also through the broadband spectrogram. Results: Using perturbation analysis methods, we have found erygmophonic voice to be significantly poorer than normal speech and it exhibits higher formant frequency values. However, erygmophonic voice shows also higher and extremely variable Error values that were greater than the acceptable level. And thus, live a doubt on the reliability of those analytic methods results. Conclusion: Acoustic parameters for objective evaluation of alaryngeal voices should allow a reliable representation of the perceptual evaluation of the quality of speech. This requirement has not been fulfilled by the common methods used so far. Therefore, acoustical assessment of erygmophonic speech needs more investigations
Reversible stimulus-responsive Cu(i) iodide pyridine coordination polymer
We present a structurally flexible copper–iodide–pyridine-based coordination polymer showing drastic variations in its electrical conductivity driven by temperature and sorption of acetic acid molecules. The dramatic effect on the electrical conductivity enables the fabrication of a simple and robust device for gas detection. X-ray diffraction studies and DFT calculations allow the rationalisation of these observations.We are thankful for support from MICINN (MAT2013-46753-C2-1-P, MAT2013-46502-C2-1/2-P and CTQ2011-26507), Eusko Jaurlaritza (S-PE13UN016) and Generalitat Valenciana PrometeoII/2014/076
Production, characterization, and antigen specificity of recombinant 62-71-3, a candidate monoclonal antibody for rabies prophylaxis in humans
Rabies kills many people throughout the developing world every year. The murine monoclonal antibody (mAb) 62-71-3 was recently identified for its potential application in rabies postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). The purpose here was to establish a plant-based production system for a chimeric mouse-human version of mAb 62-71-3, to characterize the recombinant antibody and investigate at a molecular level its interaction with rabies virus glycoprotein. Chimeric 62-71-3 was successfully expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana. Glycosylation was analyzed by mass spectroscopy; functionality was confirmed by antigen ELISA, as well as rabies and pseudotype virus neutralization. Epitope characterization was performed using pseudotype virus expressing mutagenized rabies glycoproteins. Purified mAb demonstrated potent viral neutralization at 500 IU/mg. A critical role for antigenic site I of the glycoprotein, as well as for two specific amino acid residues (K226 and G229) within site I, was identified with regard to mAb 62-71-3 neutralization. Pseudotype viruses expressing glycoprotein from lyssaviruses known not to be neutralized by this antibody were the controls. The results provide the molecular rationale for developing 62-71-3 mAb for rabies PEP; they also establish the basis for developing an inexpensive plant-based antibody product to benefit low-income families in developing countries.—Both, L., van Dolleweerd, C., Wright, E., Banyard, A. C., Bulmer-Thomas, B., Selden, D., Altmann, F., Fooks, A. R., Ma, J. K.-C. Production, characterization, and antigen specificity of recombinant 62-71-3, a candidate monoclonal antibody for rabies prophylaxis in humans
uMoDT: an unobtrusive multi-occupant detection and tracking using robust Kalman filter for real-time activity recognition
Public–Private Partnership in Tunisia: Enfidha Airport Assessment of an Infrastructure Achievement
One of the largest recent private-sector investments and the first airport private-sector concession
in the Maghreb is Enfidha Airport, a key factor in the success of the Tunisian Government’s public–
private partnership (PPP) strategy. However, since Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, political and social
turmoil is sweeping the country and worsening the economic indicators. This article aims to assess
this PPP infrastructure, allowing us to determine if it is profitable in the long term and contributes
therefore to the economic growth. The case study reveals the key role of the economic, social, and
political environment in Tunisia, the dawn of the Arab Spring
Pharmacokinetic Modeling of Non-Linear Brain Distribution of Fluvoxamine in the Rat
Introduction. A pharmacokinetic (PK) model is proposed for estimation of total and free brain concentrations of fluvoxamine. Materials and methods. Rats with arterial and venous cannulas and a microdialysis probe in the frontal cortex received intravenous infusions of 1, 3.7 or 7.3 mg.kg j1 of fluvoxamine. Analysis. With increasing dose a disproportional increase in brain concentrations was observed. Th
Modulation of Serotonin Transporter Function during Fetal Development Causes Dilated Heart Cardiomyopathy and Lifelong Behavioral Abnormalities
BACKGROUND: Women are at great risk for mood and anxiety disorders during their childbearing years and may become pregnant while taking antidepressant drugs. In the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most frequently prescribed drugs, while it is largely unknown whether this medication affects the development of the central nervous system of the fetus. The possible effects are the product of placental transfer efficiency, time of administration and dose of the respective SSRI. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In order to attain this information we have setup a study in which these parameters were measured and the consequences in terms of physiology and behavior are mapped. The placental transfer of fluoxetine and fluvoxamine, two commonly used SSRIs, was similar between mouse and human, indicating that the fetal exposure of these SSRIs in mice is comparable with the human situation. Fluvoxamine displayed a relatively low placental transfer, while fluoxetine showed a relatively high placental transfer. Using clinical doses of fluoxetine the mortality of the offspring increased dramatically, whereas the mortality was unaffected after fluvoxamine exposure. The majority of the fluoxetine-exposed offspring died postnatally of severe heart failure caused by dilated cardiomyopathy. Molecular analysis of fluoxetine-exposed offspring showed long-term alterations in serotonin transporter levels in the raphe nucleus. Furthermore, prenatal fluoxetine exposure resulted in depressive- and anxiety-related behavior in adult mice. In contrast, fluvoxamine-exposed mice did not show alterations in behavior and serotonin transporter levels. Decreasing the dose of fluoxetine resulted in higher survival rates and less dramatic effects on the long-term behavior in the offspring. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that prenatal fluoxetine exposure affects fetal development, resulting in cardiomyopathy and a higher vulnerability to affective disorders in a dose-dependent manner
A search for with the first dataset of the MEG II experiment
The MEG II experiment, based at the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland,
reports the result of a search for the decay from data
taken in the first physics run in 2021. No excess of events over the expected
background is observed, yielding an upper limit on the branching ratio of
B() < (90% C.L.). The combination of
this result and the limit obtained by MEG gives B() < (90% C.L.), which is the most stringent limit to date. A
ten-fold larger sample of data is being collected during the years 2022-2023,
and data-taking will continue in the coming years.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. To be published in EPJ
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